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A western lowland gorilla named Mary with her new baby at Busch Gardens. Photo by Busch Gardens.

A female western lowland gorilla was born at Busch Gardens Tampa on February 6! This brings the gorilla troop at the Busch Gardens Myombe Reserve habitat to seven!

What a sweet face! Both mother and baby are doing well and are being monitored by the animal care staff. Photo by Busch Gardens.

“The first month will be the critical period as the mother, Mary, and the infant begin to integrate into the current gorilla troop, so the Busch Gardens animal care team will be monitoring their progress closely,” said Jeff Andrews, vice president of zoological operations for Busch Gardens.

The first tawny frogmouth chick of the year hatched at SeaWorld Orlando on January 10. Currently weighing 21 grams (under 1 ounce), the little baby bird will grow to weigh as much as 400-600 grams (21 ounces) as an adult.

The chick is being hand-raised by the SeaWorld Aviculture Team. Every night, it goes home with an aviculturist who feeds the chick every 3-4 hours.

Tawny frogmouths are native to Australia. Although they look like owls, they are not in the same family.

On December 13, Nashville Zoo welcomed a baby alpaca into the world! The male calf, named Bandit, is the first baby alpaca to be born at the zoo.

“Based on the mother’s weight gain, we had predicted the baby would be born in spring, so his arrival on a December Saturday morning was quite a surprise,” said Kacie Cummings, Contact Area Supervisor. “We are thrilled that baby Bandit is healthy and on exhibit with the rest of our alpacas.”

The baby now weighs 14 pounds and stands at 2 feet tall. He will be on exhibit at Critter Encounters, an interactive area where guests can get up-close experiences with goats, camels, Galapagos tortoises, and birds, throughout the winter.

Photo by Amiee Stubbs / Nashville Zoo.

Alpacas are domesticated animals native to the mountains of South America.

Kangaroo joeys are popping up left and right at Nashville Zoo! Up to six of the zoo’s nine female kangaroos are carrying joeys, and now many of the little ‘roos are old enough to peek out from their mothers’ pouches.

“We have been waiting with anticipation for a joey sighting since confirming the first pregnancy in April,” said Kacie Cummings, Contact Areas Supervisor. “Our joeys range in age from one month to six months, so getting the opportunity to see them at the different stages of development throughout the next year will be exciting for our guests.”

Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, WA welcomed three male African lion cubs on October 24. Mother Adia and cubs are bonding and nursing well in an off-view maternity den. Zoo staff will monitor the newborn lions over the next several weeks to ensure their healthy development.

Watch a video of Adia and her cubs the day they were born:

In the wild, African lions inhabit the grasslands, shrub, and open woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. They are considered vulnerable of extinction by the IUCN Red List. They are threatened by loss/fragmentation of habitat as well as disease. They are also killed by humans in bravery rituals, as hunting trophies, for medicinal powers, or by ranchers protecting their livestock. To learn more about lions, see our lion facts article.

A baby hippo was born on September 11 at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Photo by Anthony Dorian / Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

A baby hippo made its grand entrance at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, Australia. Born to mother Cuddles and father Mana on September 11, the calf weighs 40 kg. The sex of the newborn has yet to be determined by zoo staff.

“It’s very much early days still, so we are keeping a close eye on both mum and calf, but so far Cuddles is proving to be a good, attentive mother,” said Hippo Keeper, Carolene Magner.

She added, “Over the coming months we will start to see the calf grow and develop more and hopefully start to come out of the water with its mother at feed time.”

On July 3rd, Nashville Zoo welcomed a new fuzzy face- a female red panda cub! Both the cub and her mother are doing well in their off exhibit den.

“This is the first birth of a red panda at Nashville Zoo, so it is certainly cause for celebration,” said Karen Rice, carnivore supervisor. “Though the cub can’t be seen on exhibit right now, we hope she will make her debut this fall and bring attention to the fight to save this species.”

Red pandas are considered vulnerable of extinction. In the wild, they inhabit the mountains of central China, Nepal, and northern Myanmar. Threats to their survival include habitat loss and high infant mortality rates.

The Nashville Zoo’s red panda pair are part of AZA’s Species Survival Program, which is a breeding program that aims to produce a self-sustaining, genetically diverse captive population.

Say hello to Rosea, the baby koala who recently emerged from her mother’s pouch at the Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Photo by Natacha Richards, Taronga Western Plains Zoo.

At the Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo, Australia, visitors got the first glimpse of a new fuzzy face! A female koala joey, named Rosea after a species of flowering eucalypt, emerged from her mother’s pouch.

“Rosea is approximately eight-months-old and is a little shy at present, preferring to stay close to mum’s chest but in the coming months will start to move on to her mother’s back,” said keeper Natacha Richards.

The zoo has two more koala joeys and many wallaby joeys that have yet to emerge from their mothers’ pouches. So visitors to the zoo will have a lot to look forward to!

My Petting Zoo in Scottsdale, AZ has welcomed one of the few documented offspring of a female sheep and a male goat. Butterfly, as she’s been named, has the features of a goat and the curly wool of a lamb.